Shells And Necklaces

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 146, 10 April 1942, Page 22

Shells And Necklaces

Dear Aunt Daisy, I know this is rather an unusual request to make, but I wonder if any of your listeners could tell me how to make holes in pipi shells. I have about six dozen which I want to try to thread for a special occasion. I have tried using brace and bits of various sizes, and heated the shells, but have not been successful. Surely there must be some quick way of doing them, as there are so many of them in necklace form about in the shons. :

Florence

¢ Mt. Eden).

I asked over the air, Florence, for an answer to this problem. Most of the necklaces we have seen have been put together with little pieces of felt stuck to the shells, However here is an excellent way of doing the job, supplied by one of the helpful Links in the Daisy Chain;Dear Aunt Daisy, I have just heard your request for a way to pierce holes in. pipi shells, Well, I do quite a lot of shell work, and although I have never actually used pipi shells, I have used other shells equally as thick and hard, This is how I pierce my holes. I use a long tin tack with the point clipped off so as to have a blunt end. I place this on the shell where I want the hole, and give it one sharp tap with a little tack hammer; and hey presto, the hole is there! A gimlet, brace and bit, or any pointed instrument only has the effect of splitting the shell; but it is the blunt end that does ‘the trick. The point of the tin tack can easily be clipped off with a pair of pincers or wire cutters,

Louisa

(Claudelands),